by Ryan Kirk
“DNA testing of the bodies indicates the same. Like Tev, the DNA is human, but doesn’t match up with anything in our database.
“The only final note is that we weren’t able to uncover any records that would lead us to understand exactly what happened to the civilization there. From some of our core samples we’ve detected large amounts of radiation, indicative perhaps of a dirty bomb or nuclear fallout, but we don’t have enough evidence to make a definite conclusion.”
Absalon turned to Kindra. “And what else have you discovered?”
Kindra shook her head. “Nothing that sheds any light on the mystery. Our initial findings still hold true. Tev is human, but no amount of questioning or exploration of his people’s legends provide the slightest clue how that can be.”
Absalon nodded, the disappointment evident on his face. “So we’ve made first contact with an alien species that turns out to be human, and we discover a long-dead civilization that is also human, but humans have never been in this part of space before?”
Kindra and Mala nodded in unison, and Absalon rubbed his forehead in frustration. “Great.”
“So, the question is, what do we do when we get back?”
Kindra spoke up before anyone else could. She had been thinking over this problem for a while. “I recommend that we give Tev the status of a foreign ambassador.”
Absalon looked up, a frown on his face. “That designation hasn’t been used since before the Rebellion Conflict, back when there were separate governments.”
Kindra knew she had to make her argument carefully. “That’s true, but the regulations are still on the books, and the designation can be assigned by a jumpship captain. Doing so would mean that Tev will have some degree of protection when we land on Haven.”
Absalon nodded. Like many of the crew, he had grown to view Tev as more crew than alien. “It’s not much, but I suppose it’s better than nothing. I’ll make the notations in the system before we get any further towards the central stars.”
Kindra left the meeting exhausted. Even with Absalon pushing them to make decisions as quickly as possible, it had still taken hours. There was too much to go over.
They had talked a little about Kindra’s actions on Tev’s home planet. When they returned to Haven, she would receive an administrative review. There were a wide range of possibilities open. Most people seemed to agree that she would be held innocent for her actions, but there was a slight chance that she would be found guilty of ordering the killing of Fleet personnel. Depending on how the panel viewed her actions, the result of that could be anything from expulsion from Fleet to execution.
Kindra didn’t care. How Fleet felt about her actions didn’t matter to her. She just wanted her life to return to normal, wanted the dreams to stop. Ever since that day, she had been carrying a weight, and Fleet’s judgment wouldn’t affect that one way or the other.
At times she worried about her career, but it never stuck. Both Derreck and Absalon had written her letters of support, and she had been left in command of Vigilance. In all likelihood, it would only be a review, but it made her nervous all the same.
She needed someone to talk to, and out here, there was only one person she felt she could trust. She followed the arrows in her vision to sick bay.
Derreck was looking much better than he had even a few days ago. The Destiny had far better medical facilities than their dropship, and they had brought Derreck out of his induced coma not long after their reunion. It had been touch and go for a while, but he had come out of the coma with his attitude as positive as ever.
His smile was so wide when he saw her that Kindra couldn’t help but grin in return. “The brave warrior returns from the scene of battle. How did it go?”
Kindra filled Derreck in as best she could. He focused on her as she spoke, and she could almost imagine him taking mental notes.
When she finished, he leaned back in his bed, a look of deep thought on his face. Kindra tolerated his silence for a few minutes, but it seemed he was thinking about something else, and Kindra was too curious not to ask.
“What’s on your mind?”
Derreck glanced at her, a look of concern on his face. With a gesture, he pulled up a file he had been looking at. It was the same file Freya had pulled up in their meeting, the video feed from Tev’s suit in addition to the neural connection data. The only difference was that this one was annotated.
“Freya filed a report with Absalon yesterday, and I’ve been reading and re-reading it.”
Kindra nodded. “I’ve seen that, although without the annotations. Freya showed it in the meeting. She said kind things about Tev.”
Derreck laughed. “I bet she would.” He pointed at the annotations. “Do you understand these?”
Kindra took a look and shook her head. To her, they all looked like gibberish.
“These are annotations we use when we are breaking apart combat scenarios. It’s a system we’re taught in officer school. The language allows us to analyze and break down an event and help people improve their piloting.”
Kindra nodded. “What’s the problem?”
Derreck paused, as though he was choosing his words. “I don’t have any direct proof of my suspicions, but when I look at these annotations, I get the strong sense that Freya is looking at Tev as a combatant. You’re absolutely correct when you say that Freya has been complimentary. Even in these annotations, she gives Tev some high praise. But she gives Tev praise as one combat pilot to another.”
Kindra shook her head. She wasn’t sure what Derreck was getting at, and he noticed her confusion.
“Okay, let me break it down into two parts for you. The first part we’ve already talked about. Freya sees Tev as an incredible combat pilot. Agreed?”
Kindra nodded. She trusted Derreck with her life, and if he was seeing something in the annotations, she believed him. Freya had been very complimentary during the meeting.
“The second part of my concern is one of the reports you submitted, a report which has been read over a dozen times by just the command structure of this jumper.”
That fact really confused Kindra. She was fairly certain that no one ever read a single word she wrote.
Derreck noticed her hesitation and clarified. “It was the report about why you believe Tev made such a good pilot with such little training.”
Kindra knew the report Derreck was talking about. One of many questions she had been trying to answer while in transit was why Tev could pilot the exosuits as well as he could, especially without any enhancements. Her theory wasn’t bulletproof, but she was almost certain she was right.
Kindra believed that Tev’s skill in the suit had everything to do with his upbringing. Research had long ago proven that there was a connection between movement proficiency and neural development. It was why most people went through rigorous gymnastics training in their youth.
Tev was different though. Not only did he grow up in an environment that was far more diverse than Kindra’s, he had moved and hunted in that environment every day since he was born. He had years and years of movement experience, climbing trees and rocks, swimming in streams, and stalking prey over all sorts of terrain. Tev moved like that all day, every day. In contrast, even the most intense gymnastic training classes lasted at most an hour or two a day. Because of his environment, Tev’s brain had developed an impressive ability to control movement, which was picked up and then amplified by the exosuit system.
Kindra had written her theory into the report, including the relevant links to research she thought might help make the connection. She never dreamed her theory would be read, and certainly not often.
“What does my report have to do with anything?”
“Think about it. You’ve stated many times that although Tev is considered an excellent hunter by his own people, he is far from alone. You’ve said there are many hunters in their culture who are just as good or better than he is. If your theory about environmental factors being the de
ciding reason why Tev is such a good pilot is correct, can you make the connection?”
Kindra’s mind raced. “Are you saying Fleet might want to recruit even more of Tev’s people to strengthen the ranks of our combat pilots?”
Derreck nodded. “Exactly.”
Kindra shook her head. “I have a hard time believing Fleet would be so interested in the military applications of first contact. The Rebellion Conflict is over. Everything Fleet does is about looking forward now.”
“I wish I was as optimistic as you. You joined the service near the end of the rebellion, right?”
Kindra nodded.
“You know I served through all of it. Fleet won that war, but not because we always fought with more honor than the other side. We did horrible things as well, and I don’t think that part of us just leaves after the war is over.”
“That’s a pretty pessimistic view of life.”
“Then let’s put a better spin on it. Let’s say Fleet is completely benevolent from top to bottom. Even if that’s true, we live in a dangerous galaxy. We still don’t know what or who blew up those dropships we had to rescue, and strains of the rebellion still thrive throughout peripheral space, no matter how much Fleet would like us to believe otherwise. Even if Fleet was benevolent, wouldn’t it make sense they would want to strengthen themselves in case more conflict developed?”
Kindra hated to agree, but she saw what Derreck was getting at. A flood of anger surged through her, anger at herself for not seeing the truth sooner.
Derreck must have seen the frustration in her eyes. “Don’t blame yourself. You’ve done your duties well. I just think this is something we will need to be careful of when we get to Haven and meet with the Senate.”
“What should we do?”
Derreck gave a small shrug, one of the largest gestures he could perform without pain. “I’m not entirely sure. Tev is closer to you than anyone else. If Fleet treats him like an ambassador instead of a test subject, I would encourage you to use your influence with him in whatever way you see best. It’s not that I don’t trust Fleet. On the whole, they do a good job, but humans are always looking for new weapons, and I don’t want to think that we’ve found one for them.”
Kindra nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for letting me know.”
After making sure that Derreck had everything he needed, Kindra left the sick bay, more filled with worries than she had been before she had come in.
Tev had already seen more wonders than any of his ancestors, and yet every day continued to amaze him. In his youth, he had thought the lands of his clan were endless. As an adult, he had wondered if it would ever be possible to explore the entire world he lived on. Now, to think the world he had known was only a small part of the entire galaxy, and that the galaxy was only one part of the entire universe.
Tev had always known about the stars, known that they were other suns that were a long way away. It was what the legends of his clan had taught him. But it was one thing to hear something, and another to experience the truth firsthand. He was a man who had grown up using only his two feet to get around. To imagine the distances he now traveled was beyond his comprehension.
He found that oftentimes, it was easiest not to think of things in terms of scale. If he did, what was right in front of him often became overwhelming. Instead, he focused only on his surroundings without placing them in context. In a hallway of the jumper, he focused only on the fact that he was in a hallway, not that he was in a hallway in a machine larger than the land his clan used to set up camp. Or that the same machine could jump unbelievable distances in the blink of an eye.
Kindra had invited him to the deck where he could look out into space. They were only a few hours away from their destination, and Kindra wanted to show him where they were going. Together, they gazed at the planet below.
“Welcome to Haven, Tev.”
The planet was huge, and although he didn’t trust his memories, Haven looked as though it was larger than the planet he had grown up on. He asked Kindra, and she told him he was right. Haven was almost twice as big as his planet.
“This is the center of humanity. Or at least, we used to think so. I’m not sure what to think since you came around. But after Earth collapsed, this was the planet that became the hub of everything. It’s near the center of explored space, for what that’s worth, but more important is the industry that started here.”
Kindra had to explain the concept of industry, but in Haven’s case, it was simple. She pointed off in the distance, into the blackness of space. “Out there, there are a bunch of tiny planets that look a lot like the moon you are used to. They are made of the same rocks we use to build our spaceships. Here, at Haven, we use those rocks to build our ships.”
Kindra pointed to a giant machine off in the distance, and Tev saw what looked like a spaceship, but wasn’t quite. It was more like he was looking at a ship with the skin taken off, and he could see inside, see into the bones of the machine.
Tev wanted to ask more questions, but Kindra was already pointing down towards the planet. Sometimes she, and all the crew, had a tendency to take their world for granted. Tev was flooded with questions, but he held onto them for now.
“Below us is the city we are going to.”
Tev looked down and saw that Kindra was pointing to lights on the planet’s surface. They were on the dark side of the planet, so all Tev could see was an enormous cluster of lights surrounded by near perfect darkness.
Tev’s sense of scale was far from refined, but from what he knew, it seemed like the lights covered an amazing amount of distance. “How big is the city?”
“Billions of people live there.”
Tev shook his head. He couldn’t even understand how billions of people lived in the same place. But that wasn’t the question he had asked. “No, how big is it?” Tev held his arms out wide, and Kindra laughed.
“Sorry, generally when we ask that question we mean population. I’m not sure.” Her eyes flashed around, and Tev knew she was looking up the information. “It’s over five hundred kilometers across at its narrowest points.”
If Tev hadn’t become so used to being amazed in the past weeks, he would have sat down. It would take days and days to walk across the city.
“How can that be?”
Kindra shrugged. “In space, it’s much easier to build cities. All the services are concentrated, and it’s easy to make things bigger. How you lived on your planet? No one lives like that in my clan.”
Tev felt a sense of vertigo, a sensation he was becoming more and more familiar with. “How can you live like this?”
Kindra smiled and shrugged. “It’s all we’ve ever known.”
Again, Tev was overwhelmed. Despite his best efforts, the feeling still occurred more often than he cared to admit. “I don’t think I’m the best person to be here. Shet, or another elder from another clan, they should be here. This is too big.”
Kindra put her hand on Tev’s shoulder. He tensed for a moment, his body reacting to what it perceived as a threat. Then his conscious mind took over and he relaxed.
“Do you think one of your elders would have been able to take in everything that you’ve seen?”
Tev knew what she meant. Neera, the woman he loved back on his home planet, had said something similar before he left. He wasn’t the right choice because of his hunting skill, no matter how much pride he took in his abilities. He was right because of his curiosity and his open mind. It would be tough for an elder to be here.
“You’re right. Shet would have died in amazement by now.”
Kindra laughed, and together they stared off into space in silence.
Tev walked alongside Derreck as the captain used his wheelchair to get around. He continued to get better every day, but it would still be a week or two before the doctors allowed him to walk longer distances. His handicap still irritated Derreck to no end, but he tried to keep a smile on his face.
Tev resp
ected Derreck for that, among many other things. Tev had always been a bad patient growing up. Every time he was injured or sick, he was up and running around long before he should have. Derreck didn’t even have the choice. He was monitored constantly by his doctors. If he tried to do too much, he received immediate warnings.
Mostly, their journey was made in silence. They had been on Haven for a few days now, and Tev was still getting used to the city. On their first journey he had closed his eyes and focused on his breath, trying to shut out all the external noises and sights. Everything was so loud and bright. He didn’t understand how people could even think in such a space.
There had been some debate about where Tev should stay, but in the end it had been decided that Tev would stay with Derreck. Derreck offered Tev a bed, but Tev found the floor to be more similar to what he was used to. Inside Derreck’s apartment, they kept the lights dim and the rooms quiet.
The past few days had been all about exploration. Tev had taken his time, only exploring a bit at once. His first journey had only been about a hundred paces out Derreck’s front door, but that had been more than enough for him. He returned to Derreck’s place and tried again later that day.
Today was their first real journey of any distance outside of Derreck’s apartment. Tev claimed he was ready, but even so, travel was difficult for him. His senses, used to the sights and sounds of the forest, were overwhelmed by everything happening around him. Derreck kept moving forward, and when Tev asked questions, he answered, but otherwise, he gave Tev the time he needed to adjust. Tev still had a hard time believing Derreck could move so easily from one world to the next.
“Do you like living here?”
Derreck chuckled. “Not really. That’s why I’m out in space most of the time.”
Eventually they came to a building. Tev recognized the image that Fleet put on their ships and suits, but other than that, Tev saw nothing different about it. The structure was tall and large, but so was every building nearby.